<\/p>\n
By Lance Eliot, the AI Trends Insider<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Are there things that we must not know?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This is an age-old question.\u00a0Some assert that there is the potential for knowledge that ought to not be known. In other words, there are ideas, concepts, or mental formulations that should we become aware of that knowledge it could be our downfall. The discovery or invention of some new innovation or way of thinking could be unduly dangerous. It would be best to not go there, as it were, and avoid ever landing on such knowledge: forbidden knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The typical basis for wanting to forbid the discovery or emergence of forbidden knowledge is that the adverse consequences are overwhelming.\u00a0The end result is so devastating and undercutting that the bad side outweighs the good that could be derived from the knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is conceivable that there might be knowledge that is so bad that it has no good possibilities at all. Thus, rather than trying to balance or weigh the good versus the bad, the knowledge has no counterbalancing effects. It is just plain bad.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We are usually faced with the matter of knowledge that has both the good and the bad as to how it might be utilized or employed. This then leads to a dogged debate about whether the bad is so bad that it outweighs the good. On top of this, there is the unrealized bad and the unrealized good, which could be differentiated from the realized bad and the realized good (in essence, the knowledge might be said to be either good or bad, though this is purely conceptual and not put into real-world conditions to attest or become realized as such).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The most familiar reference to forbidden knowledge is likely evoked via the Garden of Eden and the essence of forbidden fruit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A contemporary down-to-earth example often discussed about forbidden knowledge consists of the atomic bomb. Some suggest that the knowledge devised or invented to ultimately produce a nuclear bomb provides a quite visible and overt\u00a0exemplar\u00a0of the problems associated with knowledge. Had the knowledge about being able to attain an atomic bomb never been achieved, there presumably would not be any such device. In debates about the topic, it is feasible to take a resolute position favoring the attainment of an atomic bomb and there are equally counterbalancing contentions sternly disfavoring this attainment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One perplexing problem about forbidden knowledge encompasses knowing beforehand the kind of knowledge that might end up in the forbidden category. This is a bit of a Catch-22 or circular type of puzzle. You might discover knowledge and then ascertain it ought to be forbidden, but the cat is kind of out of the bag due to the knowledge having been already uncovered or rendered. Oopsie, you should have in advance decided to not go there and therefore have avoided falling into the forbidden knowledge zone.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On a related twist, suppose that we could beforehand declare what type of knowledge is to be averted because it is predetermined as forbidden. Some people might accidentally discover the knowledge, doing so by happenstance, and now they\u2019ve again potentially opened Pandora\u2019s box. Meanwhile, there might be others that, regardless of being instructed to not derive any such stated forbidden knowledge, do so anyway.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This then takes us to a frequently used retort about forbidden knowledge, namely, if you don\u2019t seek the forbidden knowledge there is a chance that someone else will, and you\u2019ll be left in the dust because they got there first. In that preemptive viewpoint, the claim is that it is better to go ahead and forage for the forbidden knowledge and not get caught behind the eight-ball when someone else beats you to the punch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Round and round we can go.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The main thing that most would agree to is that knowledge is power.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The alluded to power could be devastating and destroy others, possibly even leading to the self-destruction of the wielder of the knowledge. Yet there is also the potential for knowledge to be advantageous and save humanity from other ills.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Maybe we ought to say that knowledge is powerful. Despite that perhaps obvious proclamation, we might also add that knowledge can decay and gradually become outdated or less potent. Furthermore, since we are immersing ourselves herein into the cauldron of the love-it or hate-it knowledge conundrum, knowledge can be known and yet undervalued, perhaps only becoming valuable at a later time and in a different light.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a case to be made that humankind has a seemingly irresistible allure toward more and more knowledge. Some philosophers suggest you are unlikely to be able to bottle up or stop this quest for knowledge. If that\u2019s the manner of how humanity will be, this implies that you must find ways to control or contain knowledge and give up on the belief that we can altogether avoid landing into forbidden knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is a relatively new venue prompting a lot of anxious hand wringing pertaining to forbidden knowledge, namely the advent of Artificial Intelligence (AI).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s the rub.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Suppose that we are able to craft AI systems that make use of knowledge about how humans can think. There are two major potential gotchas.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n First, the AI systems themselves might end up doing good things, and they also might end up doing bad things. If the bad outweighs the good, maybe we are shooting our own foot by allowing AI to be put into use.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Secondly, perhaps this could be averted entirely by deciding that there is forbidden knowledge about how humans think, and we ought to not discover or reveal those mental mechanisms. It is the classic stepwise logic that step A axiomatically leads to step B. We won\u2019t need to worry about AI systems (step B), if we never allow the achievement of step A (figuring out how humans think and then imparting that into computers), since the attainment of AI would presumably not arise.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In any case, there is inarguably a growing concern about AI.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Plenty of efforts are underway to promulgate a semblance of AI Ethics, meaning that those developers and indeed all stakeholders that are conceiving of, building, and putting into use an AI system needs to consider the ethical aspects of their efforts. AI systems have been unveiled and placed into use replete with all sorts of notable concerns, including incorporating unsavory biases and other problems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All told, one bold and somewhat stark argument is that the pursuit of AI is being underpinned or stoked by the discovery and then exploitation of forbidden knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Be aware that many would scoff at this allegation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There are those deeply immersed in the field of AI who would laugh that there is anything in the entirety of AI to date that constitutes potential forbidden knowledge. The technology and technological elements are relatively ho-hum, they would argue. You would be hard-pressed to pinpoint what AI-related knowledge that is already known comes anywhere near the ballpark of forbidden knowledge.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For those that concur with that posture, there is the reply that it might be future knowledge that we have not yet attained that is the upcoming forbidden kind, and for which we are heading pell-mell down that path. Thus, they would concede that we haven\u2019t arrived at forbidden knowledge at this juncture, but this is an insidious distractor due to the aspect that it masks or belies our qualms entailing the possibility that it lays in wait at the next turn.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n One area where AI is being actively used is to create Autonomous Vehicles (AVs).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n We are gradually seeing the emergence of self-driving cars and can expect self-driving trucks, self-driving motorcycles, self-driving drones, self-driving planes, self-driving ships, self-driving submersibles, etc.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Today\u2019s conventional cars are eventually going to give way to the advent of AI-based, true self-driving cars. Self-driving cars are driven via an AI driving system. There isn\u2019t a need for a human driver at the wheel, and nor is there a provision for a human to drive the vehicle.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s an intriguing question that has arisen:\u00a0<\/span>Might the crafting of AI-based true self-driving cars take us into the realm of discovering forbidden knowledge, and if so, what should be done about this?<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Before jumping into the details, I\u2019d like to clarify what is meant when referring to true self-driving cars.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For my framework about AI autonomous cars, see the link here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/framework-ai-self-driving-driverless-cars-big-picture\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Why this is a moonshot effort, see my explanation here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/self-driving-car-mother-ai-projects-moonshot\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For more about the levels as a type of Richter scale, see my discussion here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/richter-scale-levels-self-driving-cars\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For the argument about bifurcating the levels, see my explanation here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/reframing-ai-levels-for-self-driving-cars-bifurcation-of-autonomy\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Understanding The Levels Of Self-Driving Cars<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a clarification, true self-driving cars are ones where the AI drives the car entirely on its own and there isn\u2019t any human assistance during the driving task.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These driverless vehicles are considered Level 4 and Level 5, while a car that requires a human driver to co-share the driving effort is usually considered at Level 2 or Level 3. The cars that co-share the driving task are described as being semi-autonomous, and typically contain a variety of automated add-on\u2019s that are referred to as ADAS (Advanced Driver-Assistance Systems).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n There is not yet a true self-driving car at Level 5, which we don\u2019t yet even know if this will be possible to achieve, and nor how long it will take to get there.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Level 4 efforts are gradually trying to get some traction by undergoing very narrow and selective public roadway trials, though there is controversy over whether this testing should be allowed per se (we are all life-or-death guinea pigs in an experiment taking place on our highways and byways, some contend).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Since semi-autonomous cars require a human driver, the adoption of those types of cars won\u2019t be markedly different from driving conventional vehicles, so there\u2019s not much new per se to cover about them on this topic (though, as you\u2019ll see in a moment, the points next made are generally applicable).<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For semi-autonomous cars, it is important that the public needs to be forewarned about a disturbing aspect that\u2019s been arising lately, namely that despite those human drivers that keep posting videos of themselves falling asleep at the wheel of a Level 2 or Level 3 car, we all need to avoid being misled into believing that the driver can take away their attention from the driving task while driving a semi-autonomous car.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You are the responsible party for the driving actions of the vehicle, regardless of how much automation might be tossed into a Level 2 or Level 3.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For why remote piloting or operating of self-driving cars is generally eschewed, see my explanation here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/remote-piloting-is-a-self-driving-car-crutch\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n To be wary of fake news about self-driving cars, see my tips here:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/ai-fake-news-about-self-driving-cars\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The ethical implications of AI driving systems are significant, see my indication here:\u00a0<\/span>http:\/\/aitrends.com\/selfdrivingcars\/ethically-ambiguous-self-driving-cars\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Be aware of the pitfalls of normalization of deviance when it comes to self-driving cars, here\u2019s my call to arms:\u00a0<\/span>https:\/\/aitrends.com\/ai-insider\/normalization-of-deviance-endangers-ai-self-driving-cars\/<\/span><\/a>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Self-Driving Cars And Forbidden Knowledge<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n For Level 4 and Level 5 true self-driving vehicles, there won\u2019t be a human driver involved in the driving task.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n All occupants will be passengers.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>